The New York Giants are riding high after a great win over the Dallas Cowboys to open the season on Sunday Night Football.
The win over the Cowboys was just about everything the Giants could have asked for. It was a definitive statement win over a division rival that had been relentlessly gassed up over the previous four months. At the same time, the Giants weren’t perfect and have plenty to work on as they get ready for the Los Angeles Rams on Monday Night Football.
Perhaps best of all, the Giants’
young players all stepped up in the win. The Giants are depending heavily on first and second year players to form the core of their team, the Giants’ rookie class certainly looked like they belonged on the field next to their veteran teammates.
Let’s take a look at each of the Giants’ rookies who contributed to the win.
Arvell Reese
The fifth overall pick was on the field for 62 total plays, including 11 penalties, two Cowboys’ kickoffs, and the Giants’ lone punt.
Reese was, overall, as advertised. He’s a big, long, and highly athletic linebacker who looked the part surrounded by the Giants’ other big, long, and athletic linebackers. He also showed off his football IQ all game long. Reese is a highly active communicator in the pre-snap phase, and he also appears to process quickly after the ball is snapped. He wastes little time getting to his landmarks, picking up pass catchers in coverage, or coming downhill to play the run. He also clearly understands where his gap responsibilities are, as well as where the defense is trying to funnel the ball.
Reese looks smooth and rangy dropping into coverage at the second level, easily getting depth and into his coverage zones. He also did a good job of using his hands to keep blockers from latching on to him and allowing him to navigate traffic in pursuit. We also got to see Reese’s strength and violence as a tackler when the time came to get the ball carrier on the ground.
Reese wasn’t quite as flashy as former teammates Sonny Styles and Caleb Downs, but he did finish second to Tremaine Edmunds in total tackles. I’d like to see more splash plays from Reese, and I think we will as the season progresses, but this was an impressive introduction for the linebacker.
Sisi Mauigoa
The big man had a long night, but it was also about as good a debut as you could ask for from the 10th overall pick. Mauigoa was on the field for 78 total snaps, including each of Dominic Zvada’s extra points and eight penalties.
I won’t go quite so far as to say that Mauigoa was dominant in his debut, but he was very good in both pass protection and as a run blocker. We knew that Mauigoa is an obviously powerful young man who could distort the line of scrimmage and dig defenders out of gaps in the run game. We also knew that, as a converted tackle, he has great athletic traits for a guard. We got to see both aspects of his game on display against the Cowboys.
Mauigoa was easily able to move laterally to mirror interior rushers, get in position to help with center-guard and guard-tackle double teams, and execute both slide protections and outside zone runs. Mauigoa’s power was featured in the downhill run game as well as when he was asked to match up with the likes of Kenny Clark one-on-one.
Sisi might not have dominated his opponents, but the right side was rarely a concern for the offense. That’s about as good a thing as you can say for a rookie guard in his first start.
Colton Hood
Hood didn’t get much work against the Cowboys. The Giants only had their second round pick on the field for 18 plays on Sunday night, the first 11 of which came on special teams. He was a fixture on both the Giants’ kick coverage teams and punt return teams.
He did get six snaps on defense, playing when Greg Newsome II or Deonte Banks were off the field.
That’s a very small sample size and the Cowboys only targeted Hood twice (one reception). He was generally in good position and was sticky in coverage on his man, including against George Pickens. That said, it’s also appeared as though the game was a bit fast on the reception he gave up. He was too off-balance to make the tackle after the catch on the come-back route, allowing YAC up the sideline.
Malachi Fields
Fields didn’t get much work as a pass catcher for the Giants. He was targeted four times, catching two passes for a 25 yards, 19 of which came on one catch. Fields was able to get behind the Dallas defense on one of his targets, but Dart overthrew him. It could have been a huge play, but it wasn’t to be.
Fields had much more of an impact as a blocker in the run game for the Giants.
Greg Roman’s blocking schemes weren’t shy about using condensed sets and using Fields as a blocker on the play side. On some of the plays, they seemed to view him as an extra tight end, and he held up well as such. For instance, the Giants used an uncommon 20-personnel set (two backs, no tight ends) on their second offensive play of the game. It was a curious look that had wide receiver Braxton Berrios line up in the backfield with Devin Singletary while fullback Patrick Ricard line up at tight end next to Andrew Thomas.
The Giants asked Fields to release to the second level and pick up linebacker Dee Winters, and he simply took Winters out of the play.
(Fields is the wide receiver on the offensive left wearing red gloves.)
The Giants also made use of Fields’ frame as a downfield obstacle, using his routes to help create space for his teammates in various passing concepts.
Dominic Zvada
Perhaps the best compliment I can give Zvada is that I forgot he was a rookie — as well as long snapper Ben Mann. The special teams operation was as clean as I’ve seen in some time. The Giants didn’t have to ask Zvada to show off his leg strength, but there was never a doubt about his ability to hit extra points.
I was particularly impressed by how he handled kickoffs. Zvada was able to consistently drop the ball inside of the Dallas 5-yard line, three times forcing KaVonte Turpin to field the ball from the 1-yard line (2.2-yard line on average). The Giants limited Turpin, one of the NFL’s most dangerous kickoff returners, to 24.4 yards per return and their average starting field position was the 26.4-yard line.
Zvada’s accuracy and ability to get distance and hangtime on his kickoffs certainly helped the Giants’ coverage team, while neutralizing Turpin helped create hidden yardage for the defense. Great start for the UDFA rookie.
